Reading 4e

[delericho]

I don't believe the game rocks... but it's the clearest presentation of a D&D edition I've ever seen and one of the easiest rulebooks to refer to and that's exactly what it should be.

While that's mostly true, people still need to be able to read the rules through at least once in order to learn the game. Go too far in a rules-text-only presentation and you lose that, and then the game dies because no-one is playing it.

The existence of a Starter Set and/or Quick Start rules can go some way towards reducing this problem, but they really aren't an adequete solution: if I'm spending $105 for a 'complete' ruleset, I expect not to have to spend another bunch of money to learn how to use it. (And, in the case of 4e, the Starter Set didn't come out for some months after the core rulebooks. I consider this to be a mistake, but that's just me.)

For the record, I don't think 4e has gone too far in removing fluff, but if the trend continues as it has for the past few editions then I can see that being a real problem with 5e.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I actually found all the books a decent read (core 3, MP, FR Players guide, AV). But I enjoy reading rules, it sparks my imagination. Of all the stuff in the books, the hardest thing for me to enjoy reading were the 2 page area descriptions in the FRPG.

Part of that is that Hero is my primary love in RPGs... I read the Hero 5th ed rulebook (a completely setting free book of rules) and enjoyed it thoroughly.

The second is that I get inspired differently than others (from what I see). When I read rulebooks, like the PH, Adventurer's Vault or Martial Power, I'll see a new power, a new feat, a new piece of equipment and my mind will almost instantly see a character/event/plot with that - with background and story potential showing fully formed in my head. Rules inspire me, so I find them really fun to read.

Fluff on the other hand usually leaves me cold, I read it and it is just like listening to someone drone on about their character, their world ect.... boring.


So I will be in the minority who say I really loved reading the rulebooks, and have read the ones I have cover to cover like a novel.